


They Who Live, Shall See

by ophiion



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Eridan and Feferi are tieflings (?), I really wrote this to satisfy myself lol, Mentioned Karkat Vantas, Miscommunication, Multi, implied Bard Feferi, loosely d&d i guess lol, polycule
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:55:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27993369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ophiion/pseuds/ophiion
Summary: "A Princess, a Sorceress, a Mage, and the Captain of a fleet find themselves tangled in a bed too big for one person. They are at peace.Their hands and legs intertwined.Safe.It makes the sting of betrayal burn that much harder in the Princess’s chest."
Relationships: Eridan Ampora/Feferi Peixes, Eridan Ampora/Sollux Captor/Aradia Megido/Feferi Peixes, Sollux Captor/Aradia Megido
Kudos: 4





	They Who Live, Shall See

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I couldn't get the imagery of sea tieflings out of my head

You think, as you roll your hips out towards the crowd your pointed tail with its oddly finned end flicking to the dark-haired gentleman in the front row whose face is obscured by the lights around you, that this is what you were born to do. You find your lips blooming into a wide, toothy grin out towards the patrons watching you from the comfort of the stuffy, sticky bar room. You have many names in this port, far enough away from the chains of responsibility that you fled, they call you a “Jewel in the Ruby’s Crown” and they would be correct, you think.

Salt-matte hair, warm Tyrian, pink skin and eyes like gold are your claims to fame around here, it’s kept you warm. That and your voice. Oh, and the young man who has been keeping a careful eye on the crowd in front of him, you meet his eye and wink at him. Joyously Eridan flushes in response, the violet of his infernal skin turning a deep, rich raspberry. Eridan has always been easy to tease, to fluster, there has always been a complicated push and pull in your relationship. He too concerned to insulate you from the world and you too concerned with just one lick of freedom, but he helped break the chain. He lost everything he could have ever wanted; he stole away with his riches and coincidentally you in the night.

The music trails to a crescendo, the finish is as impressive as ever (If you do say so yourself) and you find yourself slipping off stage to join your companion when you’re finished. You fall into the seat next to him with a warm grin, and a swig of mead in tow.

“You’re goin’ to make yourself sick at that, Fef,” He drawls easily from your left, you laugh in response and stick your tongue out at him.

“I’ve never been sick before,” You smile at him and nudge his side gently as you drop your head to his shoulder, he breathes a long sigh. In an alternate life, where your mother was not overthrown three years ago, you think you would probably have been married to Eridan, it would have made logical political sense. Both of you a unique breed of royalty, not that it matters anymore. You are relieved he took you away from there when he did, the uprising didn’t leave much behind. Though it rarely bothers you now, you are long past that life.

You almost don’t notice the half-elf man with different coloured eyes watching you, the same dark-hair from the front row earlier. You find yourself meeting his eyes with a careful smile, he looks away sharply, but you know you’ve caught him. Your body prickles with recognition as you realise just exactly  _ who _ he is. You feel Eridan tense, he’s noticed as well, and he leans down to murmur against your ear that perhaps it’s time to take your leave. You agree as you both gather your things; the innkeeper throws you your coin over the bar in a thin leather pouch as you walk past. You catch it without looking.

-

This scenario seems painfully familiar as you and Eridan tack up your horses, fingers fumble with buckles as you move.

“I didn’t think they would catch up so quickly this time,” He hisses at you, it’s been a long time since you’ve seen Captor, let alone allow him to get this close. You must have gotten too comfortable.

“I know,” You say, your voice doesn’t contain much comfort as you move to throw your leg over the steady gelding who has kept you safe on your travels.

When you leave, you leave quickly. Hair flung behind you as you run, the thrill of being prey has never quite settled with you the same way it may have done someone else, when you look back over your shoulder you think you see Captor’s thin outline, energy crackling in his hand and Megido’s sturdy frame stood next to him. You wish you could touch them for a moment.

You do not give it much thought as you press your horse harder.

-

Your next stop finds you in a city, it’s easier to hide in large cities than port towns. Or at least Eridan seems to think so, you have travelled as far north as you can, and sadly as far from the sea as possible.

You know Eridan misses being on the open water, his body was built to stand on the salt slicked deck of a ship. His wide chest, and wild eyes, and elegant nose make him look powerful. He walks with the pomp and circumstance of a captain on a mission, always ready for the next challenge. The delicate fin of his infernal ear is the mark of his bloodline adapting to the stresses of the ocean, his horns used to be decorated with beautiful gold bands. Now they are bare, no lustre to be found. In a way, you share some of his traits, a finned tail and ears and a desire to be by the ocean. Near the salt and sand, in the shadow of a great castle that you may have called home. 

The Ampora bloodline and the Peixes bloodline scan the length and breadth of time, they have always been loyal to your mother’s crown. Though Eridan has always had a knack for flights of fancy and daring-do, he knew they would kill you. You know it as well; you feel it in your bones. You are used to attempts on your life; your mother was not kind to you either. You would have died eventually anyway, either by their hand or hers. You are grateful Eridan saw fit to help steal you away.

There are moments when you miss it though. You miss the burning hands of a mage, so young and so talented, with one eye like the Sapphire sea and the other like warm wine. You equally miss the soft hair, and warm eyes, and wicked intelligence of a sorceress whose gentle never failed to make you laugh. Your heart quickens but you know, that place would never really be home so much as it was a cage.

This new city, however, is not a cage, it is vibrant and beautiful with faerie fire burning lamps that light the streets at night as you and Eridan walk, arm and arm. A little drunk on the atmosphere of the Autumn’s Crest festivities and laughing like an echo of something warmer. It isn’t often Eridan allows himself to be silly, to discuss fantasies from childhood, to dance with you in the square of a city he does not know but tonight he has been all yours. You could kiss him, you think at one point as he drops his head to your shoulder, body crumpled awkwardly against your short height, you could love him. You do love him. Your chest tightens with the complexity of the thing and you resolve to swallow another shot of liquor.

He loved  _ them _ too, but times move and shift, and people change. You can’t forget their fervour though; you know they left their mark on Eridan too.

When you do kiss Eridan, your teeth knock together, and you laugh, like waves rolling on stone.

-

Years in the past, but not many, a Princess, a Sorceress, a Mage, and the Captain of a fleet find themselves tangled in a bed too big for one person. They are at peace.

Their hands and legs intertwined.

Safe.

It makes the sting of betrayal burn that much harder in the Princess’s chest. 

-

You stumble into the room of your inn, it’s dark and cool and you know it probably won’t stay that way for long. Eridan is all mouth and teeth, one of his hands is curled tight in your hair at the base of your skull as the other seeks for the laces at the back of your leather armour. You’re both hungry, and neither of you has really ever dealt with the past but well, apparently it’s certainly being  _ dealt _ with now. 

The door is barely closed, as your fingers find the buttons of his shirt. Intent on shoving it off his shoulders as soon as his coat is gone, which he untangles himself from you long enough to shrug to the floor. When your fingers find his skin you drag your nails down his chest hard. 

The moment that Eridan leans away enough to turn on the faerie fire lamp just past the door on the little side table is precisely when an event you can only describe as all hell breaking loose decided to occur. A familiar, lisped voice asking what could be described as a very important question.

“Could you two knock it off for half a second?” 

-

Your name is Sollux Captor, you are one of a long line of mages, you have been credited with such feats of being “the best in the land” and “the greatest caster in two thousand years”. You have minor doubts that these things are true, but raw power runs strong in the Captor bloodline despite your family’s eternal bad luck streak and contractual obligation to the crown for repayment of some ancient, bullshit debt. When the rebellion rose up, first in murmurs at the edge of your peripheral you had been intrigued though almost resigned to its failure however, Karkat Vantas was convincing. 

And you are, you suppose, uniquely situated by your position. Caught between weapon and force to be reckoned with, you’ve never much enjoyed being told what to do. Especially not by a queen with no sense and too much blood on her hands. The royalties insistence of its nobility, it’s power, flexed over those who were poor and suffering. It was thrilling at the start, to be moving through gold plated halls and stood on boats that they did not know you could crush. That you would crush. The espionage wasn’t lost on you or your fiancee, Aradia Megido and the thrill that came with it. It was easy. 

The problems, however, first arose, when you met Eridan Ampora the man whose fleet you were charged with helming. Easy to look at, wild-eyed and prone to flights of fancy you hated him the moment you set eyes on his intensely sheltered ass. Pomp and circumstance and insufferable pride aside, however, he was a capable fleet captain. 

Though, Aradia had murmured when he’d introduced himself at some stupid gala that he seemed more interested in the wide sea than he did in the politics of the thing. His investment was elsewhere. His loyalties carefully tucked into the inside pocket of his jacket.

You understood when you met her, Feferi Peixes was an intense though pleasant person. Careful smiles, a lulling gaze, sickeningly sweet at first but there was a burn on the way down when you watched her stand on Eridan’s ridiculous cape to trip him for her own amusement. Always with one eye over her shoulder, the other seemed focused on something that she seemed both certain and uncertain of. 

“I know what you’re doing,” She said to you one evening, left in her company as she looked up to grin wickedly at you from where she was daintily folded. 

You had shrugged and looked away from her. 

Aradia had been the one to bring it up between the two of you, sat in bed one evening she had looked over to you and said, “I like them.” That was when you knew she understood. 

That had just been the beginning, of course, Feferi was prone to fits or revolution the same way Eridan was prone to fits of chivalry. You were surprised when she offered her help and he would follow her every command. They were formidable allies and you had a feeling would be equally difficult opponents, you were not sure what Feferi could do but the trident that sat proudly on her chamber wall was well worn.

At some point, you all fell into things together. It worked for all its complicated arguments and scheduling disagreements. You all fit into her chamber bed, regardless of whether or not you were supposed to be there. Servants turned a blind eye to Feferi’s whims, especially when they all knew her time was coming. 

When the uprising came, and her mother was beheaded, it took both you and Aradia a second too long to realise Feferi was next in the line of fire. Hard as Karkat had tried to steer their anger elsewhere, a mob is still a mob. And to them, a witch they hadn’t known about was still a witch.

No matter how different. 

But you digress, there are more important matters besides your difficult past with these two people. Especially given that they’re looking at you like they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t do.

Feferi’s tail swishes uncomfortably for a moment before she turns, head tilting to eye you carefully. Stood farther back than you think either you or judging by the way her hands are clamped on her knee, Aradia would like.

“You,” Spits Eridan from behind Feferi, eyes like coal and voice venomous. 

They both seem surprised to see you. You watch as Eridan looks like he might lunge at one, both or all three of you. 

“We can explain?” Offers Aradia, suddenly moving from your side where you are both perched on the bed you imagine they were clearly planning on debasing (you try to ignore the twinge of jealousy), standing to place herself between you and them. 

“Well,” Says Feferi after a long moment taking the wind from Eridan’s sails, “I think you probably should then.”


End file.
